A Tale of Two Sisters
by Bethany Jean
Summary: A short story about Lily and Petunia's last falling out


_Disclaimer: All characters that share the names with anyone in the Harry Potter series belong to J.K. Rowling, her publishers, the folks making the movies, and anyone else to whom JKR has sold the rights. Likewise the locations and scenery. I make no claim to any of it, and thank JKR for allowing me to take her ideas out to play with every once in awhile. Any characters/locations/scenery not sharing a name with anyone in the Harry Potter series belong to me. If you would like to use them in one of your fan fics, please ask my permission. Thank you!_

Seventeen-year-old Lily Evans smiled as she opened the letter from James that had arrived this morning with breakfast. As she read, she found that this letter, like those that she'd received last summer, was filled with the latest exploit of James and his three best friends, Sirius, Remus and Peter, who had dubbed themselves the Marauders. James and Sirius, the ring-leaders of the group, were easily the two brightest students in their year, rivaled only, perhaps by Remus and Lily herself. Their talent had given James and Sirius an arrogant confidence that had led her to find them insufferably conceited and annoying. Her opinion of James and his friends had changed, however, and their first date had been the last Hogsmeade weekend of their sixth year, although they hadn't told any of their friends until they'd returned to school that fall.   
  
Unlike his letters of last summer, however, James had included in this letter news surrounding the activities of Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who last month had announced that he had assembled an army of dark creatures, witches and wizards to destroy the Ministry of Magic, and purge the wizarding world of all muggle-borns (like herself), and half-bloods (like James). The news about Voldemort was not good--2 more disappearances, the death of 43 muggles that was being blamed on a factory fire, and the torture of a Ministry of Magic official. Lily shivered involuntarily as she read this information, not at all happy that her suspicions about the factory fire had been confirmed.   
  
Following his run-down of Voldemort's activities, James had written a little about Dumbledore, and his efforts to fight Voldemort, but explained that he knew very little, and was allowed to say even less. He had signed the letter "With all my love, James." Lily's heart skipped with excitement as her eyes traveled over those words, and she thought back to the first time, barely a week ago, that James had told her that he loved her.  
  
They had been standing on the platform by the train that was to take Lily back to London for Christmas Break. James had been trying to convince Lily to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, thinking she would be safer there. "Now that he's announced his intentions, Lily, and he's surrounded himself with very powerful witches and wizards who support him, he'll be even more bold with his killings," James had said.  
  
"I still can't believe that Alice's grandpa was right all along. If the ministry had listened to him six years ago when he started telling people what was happening, he'd never have been able to get the power--"  
  
"Well the point is that they didn't, did they, Lily?" James said, a little impatiently. "Nobody listened, and now we're dealing with the consequences--and the reality. And the reality is that your parents are muggle-borns, Lily. Even though you may not be targeted, because you're not much threat to him yet, one of his followers might decide to kill you off just for fun. You're vulnerable in London. Please stay at Hogwarts..." His voice trailed off.   
  
"I know all of this, James," Lily had responded gently, "But I have to go home. I promised my parents, I can't just back out on them. They're expecting me!"  
  
James looked disappointed, but didn't push the issue. He grabbed her arm and looked into her eyes. His eyes, usually care-free and dancing with mischief, were as serious as Lily had ever seen them. "Then promise _me_ that you'll be careful, all right? Swear it, swear it to me right now. I--I love you, Lily. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you."  
  
Lily was vaguely aware that James had wanted her to swear that she'd be careful, but she couldn't just now. She was taken so off-guard by what James had just said that she would be lucky if she could even remember her own name at that moment. "You--you love me?" she repeated, starting at him. "You..._love_...me?" she asked again, her voice shaking.  
  
James nodded. "Since the moment that I saw you watching me on Platform nine and three-quarters when we were eleven-years-old," he replied. "You just weren't ready to hear it until now. Well..." he paused, looking suddenly uncertain, as if it had just occurred to him that she might not feel the same way about him. "At least...I thought you were ready to hear it now..." his voice had trailed off, and the confidence with which he always carried himself seemed to have deserted him.   
  
Lily felt a swell of emotion rise up in her chest that she couldn't explain. "No," she said, still staring at him. His hand dropped from her arm, and he looked at her, startled. "No, I was ready to hear it," she added hastily, realizing that James thought she was telling him she didn't love him. "I mean, I am ready. I am ready to hear it. I...I love you, too, James."   
  
A sharp knock at the door drew Lily's thoughts abruptly, and most unpleasantly, away from James, and back to the present. She carefully folded up her letter and placed it into her trunk before yelling "yeah, come in!" The door swung open to reveal a tall, blond girl with a horsey-face and a neck that was much longer than a normal person's. "Hi Pet," Lily said warmly to 15-year-old Petunia. Petunia was Lily's sister, although you wouldn't be able to tell it by looking at them. In contrast to the young woman standing in the doorway, Lily had thick auburn hair, a wide, even smile, and a very normal amount of neck. The most startling difference between the two women, however, was their eyes. While Petunia's were an unremarkable pale blue that hardly anyone would notice, Lily's were a striking emerald green that most people noticed immediately.  
  
"I just came up here to let you know that dinner's ready. Mum told me to have you set the table, but I'm sure you can just conjure up whatever we need," Petunia said bitterly.  
  
Lily chose to ignore Petunia's comment, and instead smiled and motioned for Petunia to come into the room. Petunia flinched as though Lily had tried to punch her, and Lily sighed deeply. "Come on in, Pet, I promise I won't hurt you. I haven't even got my wand out," Lily added with a small laugh.   
  
Petunia did not laugh. "I'd rather not," she replied, her eyes narrowed with distrust as she gazed around at the odd assortment of items laying around Lily's room. In the corner stood an empty cage that was normally home to Lily's owl, Romulus. The bookshelves were lined with volumes of books with tiles like "Ancient charms for Modern Witches" (Alice had bought that for Lily in their fifth year, when Lily had decided that she wanted to work for the Charms Department at the Ministry of Magic after Hogwarts) and "Transfiguration Made Easy" (James, whose best subject was transfiguration, had bought that one for Lily in their third year, to tease her about it being her worst subject). Her trunk stood open by the wall, and along with an assortment of quills, parchment and robes, a variety of bottles labeled with odd names like gillyweed, dragon blood, and armadillo bile were spilling out of the top. Petunia's gaze lingered on Lily's wand, which was lying harmlessly on the dresser at the moment, before looking back at her sister with mistrust in her eyes. "Besides, you'd better get downstairs. Mum's waiting."  
  
Lily sighed deeply again. There was a time when Petunia would have jumped at the chance to come into her room and listen to Lily explain about all of the stuff that she had with her. Petunia used to spend hours asking Lily about her classes, trying on her robes, and looking through the books that Lily would check out from the library and bring home especially for Petunia over break. Petunia's favorite books had always been those about magical creatures. She had loved learning about dragons, hippogriffs, and any other manner of extraordinary creatures. All of that had changed, of course, the summer of Petunia's 11th birthday.   
  
When Petunia had been 9-years-old, Lily had received her letter informing her that she'd been accepted into Hogwarts. Her parents quickly agreed to the change in schools--they had been planning on sending Lily to the local public school--but Petunia had been very distraught at the idea that Lily would be away from home for such a long period of time. Lily had consoled Petunia (and herself) by insisting that the separation would only be temporary, and that Petunia would be joining Lily at Hogwarts in two short years. Petunia had been so excited about this thought, that Lily kept quiet her fear that Petunia had never exhibited the same magical ability that Lily had, and insisted to herself that Petunia would end up coming to Hogwarts, too. When the summer of Petunia's eleventh birthday had come and gone without a sign of a letter, both sisters had been devastated. Lily had tried to console Petunia, but she hadn't wanted Lily around. Lily's parents tried to be practical, telling Petunia that she should have known all along that she didn't have Lily's talent, and insisting that Smeltings, the private school in which they'd decided to enroll her, was perfectly suitable for a little girl without magical ability. "Can't we just consider ourselves lucky," Elizabeth Evans had asked after one particularly trying tantrum by Petunia, "that we have even one witch in the family? Not everybody is that lucky." But of course, that had only made matters worse.   
  
Lily had gone off to Hogwarts that fall disappointed that Petunia wasn't with her, and worried about how her sister would do at Smeltings. She sent Petunia letters every week, and had brought home twice as many books as usual at Christmas break, hoping to cheer her up. To Lily's surprise, and considerable dismay, Petunia had not wanted to look at any of them, even the book about unicorns, which had always been her favorite magical creature. Petunia had avoided her for most of the holiday, except to occasionally remark how happy she was that she wasn't at Hogwarts, because at least at Smeltings she wasn't in Lily's shadow.  
  
Lily, hurt beyond measure by her little sister's behavior toward her, had gone back to school unsure of what to do. She had eventually decided to stop sending her letters, fearing Petunia would think that she was only "rubbing it in" if she did, and to give Petunia some space to work out her disappointment. Unfortunately, Petunia's disappointment did not fade, and the following summer, her attitude had been colder than ever toward Lily. Their relationship had steadily deteriorated as the years had gone by until, to Lily's constant regret, they were virtually strangers.   
  
Lily looked at Petunia sadly. "I'd have given up Hogwarts and everything it's given me if I'd have known this ability was going to cost me my sister, Pet."  
  
Petunia snorted. "You'd give up James?" she asked, derisively. "I don't think so." Lily felt a pang of guilt inside her. If she were truthful, Petunia was right. He was the only thing that she was not willing to give up for her sister.   
  
"That's not fair, Pet," Lily said quietly. "I'd never ask you to give Vernon up for me."  
  
"Oh, I'm not asking you to give up your boyfriend," Petunia replied venomously. "You're assuming that I want to be your friend, Lily. You have this habit of thinking that everyone is jealous of your wonderful little life..."  
  
"And you have this habit" Lily retorted, her temper flaring as all of the rage and fear that she had buried inside of her since Lord Voldemort had announced his presence came bubbling to the surface. "of assuming that your greatest problem in the world is that your sister has magical talent and you don't. You are too self-centered to see that everyone, including you, are facing much bigger problems in Lord Voldemort!"  
  
"Lord Voldemort?" Petunia shot back, her voice rising. "Why on earth should I be afraid of him? I'm a muggle, remember? I'm to unimportant for him to be concerned with!"  
  
"You might tell that to the 43 people who died at Grunnings," Lily retorted. "Lord Voldemort's followers were responsible for that--or didn't you know? That's their idea of fun, Petunia." Lily was breathing hard, anger still running through her veins.  
  
"You know perfectly well that it was a factory fire that killed those people," Petunia snapped, "so stop trying to scare me with that nonsense."  
  
"Nonsense, is it? Have they found the cause of the fire yet, Pet? Read the autopsy report, those people didn't die of smoke inhalation. They were tortured and killed because Voldemort's death eaters were bored."   
  
"That's not true!" Petunia insisted, but her voice faltered. "You're--you're just trying to scare me. Voldemort is your problem, not mine. And anyway, if freaks like you didn't exist," she continued, with sudden inspiration, "Voldemort wouldn't be anyone's problem!"  
  
Lily looked as though she'd been slapped. "You don't mean that, Petunia," Lily said, her voice suddenly quiet. "You can't mean that you wish I didn't exist... I know we've had our share of problems, but you're still my sister..." Lily trailed off, unable to believe that Petunia hated her so much that she wished she didn't have a sister.  
  
"I do mean it, though" Petunia repeated, folding her arms stubbornly. "Why do you think I haven't had anyone from school out to the house? Why do you think you haven't met Vernon yet? Because, Lily I wish you didn't exist. As far as they know, and as far as I'm concerned, I don't have a sister!" Petunia spun around and walked out of Lily's room, leaving Lily staring unbelievingly after her. 


End file.
